Marquez second-fastest at a dusty Austin track, Pedrosa a brave 10th

Marc Marquez enjoyed a strong start today at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, showing top form right from the morning session and ending the day second-fastest despite an insubstantial tip-off at Turn 11 with 20 minutes to go in FP2.

After ending this morning’s FP1 session in 21st place, the recovering Dani Pedrosa bravely brought his RC213V to 10th place in the FP2 session.

With the weather forecast calling for possible rain tomorrow, Marc’s and Dani’s performances today could prove enough to secure them top-10 overall qualifying positions, which would advance them directly to QP2.

Marc Marquez

2nd2'04.655

“I’m quite happy with how things are going because I felt strong from the beginning, and we worked for the race. Most importantly, I did my lap time with a hard rear tyre. They also say it may rain tomorrow, so it’s positive to be up in second place. Our pace is already good, but there are a few things we want to improve because I don’t yet feel 100%. This afternoon I had a small crash when I tried another setup, so we need to keep working, also because there are some riders looking strong, in particular Vinales. Today we were able to try several tyres but we must also understand more on that side. Anyway, let’s wait and see; there’s so much that remains between now and Sunday.”

Dani Pedrosa

10th2'05.761

“I’m happy with this afternoon’s result, as we finally managed to get a bit better position than I was expecting, and this is very positive. That said, both of today’s sessions were tough, especially FP2, because this afternoon I gave maximum effort in order to understand if there’s any reason to race on Sunday. This morning I felt quite a lot of pain, but I just tried to feel what I could do on the bike. My pace wasn’t so good, so I tried to put myself in a better position this afternoon, and I’m very pleased with the outcome. Now we have to try and control the swelling ahead of tomorrow’s action. This is one of our biggest targets now, as the swelling has increased due to the efforts. We’ll try our best to handle a bit better pace tomorrow so that we may approach the race with the aim of getting some points.”

MotoGP 2018Friday, April 20th 2018

Practice
Round 3
Red Bull Grand Prix of The AmericasAmericas

FP2 Classification

Sunny

Humidity

48%

Track Temp

33°C

Air Temp

22°C

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Iannone Andrea

29

ITA

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

2'04.599

2

Marquez Marc

93

SPA

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

0.056

3

Vinales Maverick

25

SPA

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

0.264

4

Rossi Valentino

46

ITA

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

0.359

5

Crutchlow Cal

35

GBR

LCR Honda

Honda

0.489

6

Rins Alex

42

SPA

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

0.853

7

Lorenzo Jorge

99

SPA

Mission Winnow Ducati

Ducati

0.888

8

Dovizioso Andrea

4

ITA

Mission Winnow Ducati

Ducati

1.048

9

Espargaro Aleix

41

SPA

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

1.140

10

Pedrosa Dani

26

SPA

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

1.162

11

Petrucci Danilo

9

ITA

Pramac Racing

Ducati

1.290

12

Rabat Tito

53

SPA

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

1.311

13

Zarco Johann

5

FRA

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

1.334

14

Miller Jack

43

AUS

Pramac Racing

Ducati

1.417

15

Redding Scott

45

GBR

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

1.479

16

Syahrin Hafizh

55

MAL

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

1.620

17

Nakagami Takaaki

30

JPN

LCR Honda

Honda

1.798

18

Abraham Karel

17

CZE

Angel Nieto Team

Ducati

1.956

19

Luthi Tom

12

SWI

EG 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

2.026

20

Morbidelli Franco

21

ITA

EG 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

2.041

21

Bautista Alvaro

19

SPA

Angel Nieto Team

Ducati

2.084

22

Smith Bradley

38

GBR

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

2.434

23

Espargaro Pol

44

SPA

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

2.537

24

Simeon Xavier

10

BEL

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

3.422

Gallery

Images are copyright but free for editorial use.

Location Information

The Circuit Of The Americas is the first purpose-built Grand Prix facility in the U.S. near Austin, Texas, with a 5.513km track and a capacity for 120,000 fans. Construction of the impressive 1000-acre facility was completed late in 2012, with MotoGP lining up at the track for the first time… read more.

Location Information

The Circuit Of The Americas is the first purpose-built Grand Prix facility in the U.S. near Austin, Texas, with a 5.513km track and a capacity for 120,000 fans. Construction of the impressive 1000-acre facility was completed late in 2012, with MotoGP lining up at the track for the first time… read more.